“This film is about love,” says one of the viewers of My Sweet Child by Maarten de Schutter, which was screened in Ivano-Frankivsk in the Poruch.Prostir space during the 22nd Travelling Docudays UA festival in Prykarpattia.

This time, the atmosphere here was especially quiet and attentive. The audience gradually gathered in the room: young people, military families, local activists. People came not only to watch the film but to experience it together. A tender yet painful story unfolded on the screen — through archival videos and home recordings, the director reconstructs memories of his mother, who died in the downing of flight MH17 over the Donetsk Region in 2014.

The film, built on sincere, personal material, has become not only a cinematic portrait of family love, but also a kind of testimony of the war that has affected every Ukrainian family.

The screening was followed by a discussion during which the viewers shared their own memories of loss, spoke about pain that never goes away and about how love and memory give one the strength to live on.

Photo: Tetiana Pigurska

One of the participants in the discussion was Larysa Stefanyshyn, the mother of Vasyl Stefanyshyn, a fallen Ukrainian defender killed in the war.

“People and their problems help me keep living. Almost every day someone reaches out asking for advice, for help finding something, or for support. Families of fallen soldiers call, sometimes even with questions unrelated to my work. It fulfills my need to be useful. But my son is an inseparable part of my life. Our bond is strong. For my husband and me, he was a long-awaited child,” shared Ms. Larysa.

Two other participants of the meeting, who had also experienced loss, noted that it is impossible to completely heal the pain of the soul, but it is possible to accept it. What helps in this are love for one’s close ones, communication with those who understand, or faith.

Photo: Tetiana Pigurska

The film My Sweet Child impressed the audience with its sincerity and with how delicately Maarten de Schutter, through a personal story, reminds the world of the crimes russia commits against civilians.

At the end, historian Volodymyr Polovskyi spoke about the trial concerning the downing of flight MH17 over the Donetsk Region, in which the director’s mother was killed.

“Russia was found responsible for the crime. Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinskii, and Leonid Kharchenko were sentenced to life imprisonment. Although it is a slow process, step by step, justice is being restored for the families of the victims,” he noted.

For the audience in Ivano-Frankivsk, the film My Sweet Child became not only a cinematic event but also an opportunity to talk about difficult things: loss, love, and how to keep living when the pain does not fade.

Author: Tetiana Pigurska

The 22nd Travelling Docudays UA is held with the financial support of the European Union, the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, and International Media Support. The opinions, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily correspond to the views of the European Union, the governments or charities of these countries. Responsibility for the content of the publication lies solely on its authors.